1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for discharging ink to a recording medium from a recording head mounted to a carriage and recording.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ink jet recording apparatus, ink droplets are discharged from a plurality of fine nozzles formed in a recording head. There is a case where the ink in the nozzle is dried, thickened, and stuck with the elapse of time. Paper fine particles, dust, bubbles, or the like are mixed into the ink in the nozzle, or the like, so that there is a case of occurrence of deterioration in recording quality due to a defective ink discharge caused by a clogging.
To solve such a problem, an apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-111686 has a capping mechanism of a slide cap system in which when a carriage equipped with a recording head is moved to an area adjacent to a recording area, capping of the recording head is performed in response to the movement of the carriage. In the apparatus disclosed in the above Official Gazette, a slider equipped with a cap ascends or descends along a cam surface provided by setting an apparatus frame to a reference and a plurality of recording heads and a plurality of caps are simultaneously come into contact with and adhered to each other, thereby performing the capping. When the capping is cancelled, the plurality of recording heads and the plurality of caps are simultaneously separated so as to be away from each other.
To suppress the drying of the ink, it is necessary to certainly adhere the cap and the recording head. There is a case where the recording head and the cap are excessively adhered in dependence on a preserving state. When separating the adhered recording head and cap, a driving load of a driving mechanism increases. Particularly, when the capping operations (adherence or separation) of the plurality of recording heads are simultaneously performed, a driving load of the carriage increases temporarily and remarkably.
The apparatus disclosed in the above Official Gazette has a mechanism in which when the carriage is moved on the further back side (in such a direction as to be away from the recording area) rather than a capping position, the capping of only one cap is selectively cancelled. However, when the carriage is returned from such a position to the recording area side, it is temporarily returned to a state where both of the plurality of recording heads and the plurality of caps are adhered to each other. Subsequently, the plurality of recording heads and the plurality of caps are simultaneously separated so as to be away from each other, and thereafter, the carriage is returned to the recording area. That is, the apparatus disclosed in the above Official Gazette has a construction in which since the position where all of the plurality of recording heads and the plurality of caps are adhered to each other is located on the side near the recording area, the concurrent adherence and separation of the plurality of recording heads and the plurality of caps occur certainly. Therefore, it is unavoidable that the driving load of the carriage increases.